Professor Kulesza who was a renowned lawyer associated with the Warsaw University helped establish the FSLD in 1989. The same year, he took part in the famous Round Table Agreement talks as a member of the local government working group. In the 1990s he served as under-secretary and secretary of state in the Ministry of Interior and Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland. Later he became a civic advisor to the Prime Minister and eventually (in 2010) to the President Bronisław Komorowski.

He was also the editor-in-chief of the “Samorząd Terytorialny” (“Local Government”) monthly and a collaborator of numerous periodicals devoted to the local administration and management. Professor Kulesza was known as one of the most respected experts in the field of local governance in Poland.